Jackie's story
After being diagnosed with mouth cancer 19 years ago, Jackie Kelly (45) from Castlemilk, is a strong example of why early detection plays such a pivotal role in cancer treatment and can allow you to get treatment and go on to live well post-cancer. Jackie was pregnant with her son, Jack, when she was diagnosed.
She says: "Your mouth is just as important as any other part of your body so if you find anything unusual please go to your dentist. Know your normal. It's really important that you go for your regular check-ups so your dentist knows your mouth and they will notice anything untoward. If you don't have a dentist, go to your GP practice.
“I had a very small lump, about the size of a pea in the side of my mouth which I could feel with my tongue. I actually saw a campaign on the telly which was talking about mouth cancer and said if you found an unusual lump in your mouth then go and get it checked.
"To be perfectly honest I very nearly didn't go to my appointment as I felt stupid because I thought I didn't fit the criteria. Although I smoked, I didn't drink and I wasn't old. I was only 24.”
Her GP initially thought Jackie had blocked salivary glands, and sent her to then Southern General Hospital in Glasgow to have it checked and they suspected the same. They told her they could remove it if she wanted and, as it was annoying her, she agreed.
The mother of three said: "They took the lump out under a local anaesthetic and sent it away to the pathology labs and I didn't think anymore about it.
"A GP then got in touch and I was told they wanted to see me straight away for a further operation to take a bigger sample, but I was still thinking it wasn't anything bad.
"I went back to the hospital maybe a week after the operation as I had an infection in the wound and I was in pain. I was on my own and I was told they had the test results and that they'd found cancerous cells in the tissue.. It was all surreal. I was like 'Oh my God!'"
The next step for Jackie was radiation treatment. She had 35 sessions over seven weeks.
Jackie said: "Just before my treatment started I found out that I was pregnant with Jack. I was 13 weeks pregnant so they had to take steps to protect him during the radiation. They took really, really good care of me and told me the risks of having radiotherapy during pregnancy. Thankfully my son was born absolutely fine – he was 11lb 8oz and now he's training to be a chartered accountant!” Jackie has two other children; Toni, who's 28, and 23-year-old Ryan.
Jackie, who's been in remission since finishing her treatment, said: "I think it's important to give people hope. I think a lot of people hear the word cancer and they think they are going to die and it's not like that.
"Mouth cancer can be very aggressive and can get out of hand very quickly. I was so very lucky. Don't ever feel stupid about getting something checked. It's so important. If I hadn't gone to my GP when I did, I might not be here today and my children wouldn't have had a mum."
“If you’ve got any symptoms or are worried about mouth cancer then I’d definitely recommend contacting your local GP practice and visiting getcheckearly.com.”